Northparkes receives approval for Expansion Project

Northparkes receives approval for Expansion Project

China Molybdenum Company (CMOC) and Sumitomo have announced the final approval of an Expansion Project at CMOC-Northparkes Mines (Northparkes) in the Central West of New South Wales. The investment will be $72M spread over two years. The engineering work will start immediately, with the main construction activities scheduled to commence in Q3 of 2019. The full benefits of the project are expected to be realised in late 2020.

The Expansion Project includes a range of upgrades to our underground mining, ore processing and infrastructure facilities to enable an increase in throughput capacity from 6.4Mtpa to 7.6Mtpa.

Northparkes Managing Director, Hubert Lehman, said, “Following the announcement of our next block cave mine – E26 Lift 1 North earlier this year, this is another major investment in the future of our business. This demonstrates CMOC’s confidence in the sustainability and longevity of our operations, enabling us to achieve our vision of “A century of mining together”.

The Expansion Project will be managed by an owner’s team of Northparkes employees. A further 20 positions will be created to execute the project. During construction, there will be an additional 100 contractor’s onsite.
“As we are executing these major capital projects, our Zero Harm approach to every aspect of our operations will be at the forefront of our minds. We will continue to care for our people, our equipment, our environment and the community in which we live and work for years to come. We believe this approach is why we have been successful for over two decades, and it sets us up for decades to come,” said Mr Lehman.

About CMOC-Northparkes Mines
Northparkes is a copper and gold mine located 27 kilometres north-west of Parkes, in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. Since 1993 Northparkes has been celebrated for our high-quality copper/gold deposits, low cost operations and loyal, committed people. Northparkes is a joint venture between China Molybdenum Co., Ltd (CMOC) (80%) and the Sumitomo Groups (20%).